Gaps in your information technology and related research
can contribute to your team losing its cyber war to other teams with access to
gap closing technology and research. At this point that statement should not
seem so profound, but I still think it needs to be stated. Many of us sit on
the sidelines speculatively arguing the existence of cyber war like activities,
but do we truly understand the game.
I am not sure there is an end-game in cyberspace. The
goal is not to win some arbitrary cyber conflict, but to maintain an advantage
through continuous operations. Most of
time the advantage being sought will have little to do with anything cyber or
the Internet. The cyber conduit is just one of many mediums where operations transpire.
Gaining the advantage also does not necessarily mean that you have closed a gap
for your team. You can take the advantage by creating and maintaining gaps in
your adversary’s information technology or research.
You have to look no further than Stuxnet to see an
example of a cyber-operation that conspired to create gaps in centrifuge
technology so a possible nuclear research gap was maintained in Iran. While the team that carried out the
cyber-operation clearly had developed or gained access to some gap closing
malware technology they were willing to give up that cyber advantage to
presumably maintain a nuclear advantage over Iran.
We know the cyber weapons of mass destruction are out
there, so we need to maintain focus on closing our own cyber gaps. We need to
think strategically about our defensive cyber security programs. We have to assess and develop target theories
on where others would seek to exploit existing or create new gaps in our information
technology or research.
The end-game is not in cyberspace; it's developing and
maintaining the best people. Make sure the human element is not your cyber
lacuna.
My thoughts may be unfinished and unrefined, but they are
my own.
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